The “Corporatisation” of Higher Education at the University of the West Indies: The Case of Phillip Sherlock and Walter Rodney

Abstract

Scholars are still debating the merits and demerits of the “corporatisation of higher education”. This paper argues that the economic survival of most universities and colleges is largely dependent on state/government or private sponsors, and as such, they are obligated to them socially and politically. The current trend to corporatise higher education institutions is a reminder to universities and colleges that they are dependent institutions, and that the academic freedom which they traditionally enjoy is primarily based on the consent of their sponsors, who at any time can threaten, or demand fundamental changes to their polity and charter. This dependence of higher education institutions on state/government and corporate sponsors, will be amply demonstrated through a case study in 1968 at the University of the West Indies.